Elderly women with metabolic syndrome present higher cardiovascular risk and lower relative muscle strength

To compare the metabolic, anthropometric, arterial blood pressure, and muscle strength parameters of elderly women with and without metabolic syndrome.

A case-control study with 27 (67.3 ± 4.8 years of age, 31.0 ± 5.0 kg/m²) elderly women with metabolic syndrome and 33 (68.8 ± 5.6 years of age, 27.2 ± 5.3 kg/m²) sedentary control elderly women. They were submitted to an evaluation of body composition by means of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and muscle strength testing with 10 maximal repetitions of knee extension.

When compared to the elderly women without metabolic syndrome, those with the metabolic syndrome had higher levels for body mass (72.2 ± 13.5 versus 63.4 ± 14.6 kg, p = 0.03), body mass index (31.0 ± 5.0 versus 27.2 ± 5.3 kg/m2, p = 0.007), fat mass (30.9 ± 9.9 versus 24.4 ± 8.5 kg, p = 0.01), systolic arterial pressure (125.1 ± 8.2 versus 119.3 ± 8.7 mmHg, p = 0.01), diastolic arterial pressure (75.5 ± 6.9 versus 71.4 ± 6.7 mmHg, p = 0.03), mean arterial pressure (92.5 ± 6.2 versus 87.1 ± 6.7 mmHg, p = 0.004), blood glucose (103.8 ± 19.1 versus 91.1 ± 5.9 mg/dL, p = 0.001), triglycerides (187.1 ± 70.2 versus 116.3 ± 36.7 mg/dL, p = 0.001), and creatine kinase (122.6 ± 58.6 versus 89.8 ± 32.5 U/L, p = 0.01); lower levels were found for fat-free mass (55.9 ± 5.8 versus 59.3 ± 6.7%; p = 0.05), HDL-C (40.7 ± 5.0 versus 50.5 ± 10.1 mg/dL, p = 0.001), and relative muscle strength (0.53 ± 0.14 versus 0.62 ± 0.12, p = 0.01).

Elderly women with metabolic syndrome have a higher cardiovascular risk and less relative muscle strength when compared to those without metabolic syndrome. Relative muscle strength may be related to the cardiovascularr risk factors of the metabolic syndrome.